Jankovic achieves third title in a row, fourth of season after win to Russian seed

Jelena Jankovic has being improving her game ever since her win in Beijing, which started it all. The Serb perfored excellently after her win in Stuttgart, which made her achieve her third title in a row, and fourth of the season in Moscow, Russia.

Jankovic has been on fire for the last three weeks, as she regained her No. 1 spot last week, and it certainly looked like she deserved it. Her win to Russian No. 7 seed Vera Zvonareva was in easy straight sets, 62 64, which took an hour and 29 minutes to complete.

Both players had made some big upsets and were down in the matches at moments in earlier rounds, as Jankovic was down a set and 2-0 - and even had points to go down 3-0 in that second set - before notching a hard-fought, 67(6) 63 62 win over Vera Dushevina in her opener; in the quarterfinals she rallied from 3-1 down in both sets to dispatch Flavia Pennetta, conqueror of Venus Williams, 76(6) 63; and in the semifinals she dropped the first set at love before hitting her stride, beating No.3-seeded defending champion Elena Dementieva, 06 61 60.

Zvonareva won all of her matches in straight sets, as she ousted Maria Kirilenko in her two first rounds, cruised through after her win to Dominika Cibulkova in the quarters, despite saving five set points in the first set, and winning to compatriot No. 2 seed Safina, 62 76(5), before falling to Jankovic in the finals.




Sunday, October 12, 2008

Singles - Final
(1) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 62 64